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French Pastries

"Why I Am Not Where You Are", "Namouna, a Grand Divertissement"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
April 29, 2010

By Mary Cargill
Copyright © 2010 by Mary Cargill

The Spring Gala featured two new ballets, both to French music, and both, according to interviews published in the playbill, based on stories.  The evening opened with an intriguing film (by former NYCB dancer Kirstin Sloan) focused on the designs that the architect Santiago Calatrava has done for several of the new ballets scheduled for the season, a tantalizing glimpse of what look to be stunning architectural effects.  One of these was featured in Benjamin Millepied's "Why Am I Not Where You Are", to music by Thierry Escaich.  The design, silver slats set in a large cut-out semicircle, was the most original and striking aspect of the work.  The music, while certainly danceable, sounded very much like "The Firebird" without the folk-tune flavor, and the story was "La Valse" with the sexes exchanged.

A Jog, A Skip, and a Jump

“Trellis”

BigManArts

Abrons Arts Center

New York, NY

April 22, 2010

By Martha Sherman

Copyright © 2010 by Martha Sherman

Lawrence Goldhuber runs against time. In “Trellis,” his new work at Abrons Arts Center, he and the dancers of BigManArts did a lot of jogging, but little traveling, as the dancers moved toward places or connections just beyond reach. The jogging steps served as engines, moving the many short vignettes (and a few longer scenes) framed by blackouts that propelled the piece forward. It was a work of simple images and music, filled with solitary yearning, but punctuated with humor and moments of joy.

Past Perfect

"Soiree Musicale", "Capriol Suite", "Three Virgins and a Devil", "Suite from Mazurkas"
New York Theatre Ballet
Florence Gould Hall
New York, NY
April 23, 2010

By Mary Cargill
Copyright © 2010 by Mary Cargill

The New York Theatre Ballet is the small group affiliated with the school founded by the famous Cecchetti teacher Margaret Craske, and it gives regular performances of chamber ballets, works which would be lost on larger stages.  Though the company performs new works, it is best known for its scrupulous and honorable revivals of earlier masterpieces, with live piano (played by Mariko Miyazadi and Ferdy Tumakaka), a rarity in this age of tape.  The combination of the British greats, Tudor and Ashton, seasoned with a fine comedy by Agnes de Mille and a rare Limon made for a wonderful program.  Antony Tudor's "Soiree Musicale", choreographed in 1938, was originally intended as a demonstration of Cecchetti technique.  It is a bundle of charming dances, a group of nineteenth century lithographs brought to life.  The nine dancers (six women and three men) perform lighthearted, but gloriously musical, stylized folk dances, so evocative of the Romantic period.  There is even a slyph, the charming Young Wha Lim, full of little grace notes, a Spanish gypsy number, and an infectious tarantella, with Rie Ogura and Steven Melendez as the happy couple.

The Paradox of Close

“Offering,” “2Parts Whole,” “Bird Stick Lady or Self Portrait, Sperryville,” “Interview/Innerview”

Deborah Wanner Dance

Chen Dance Center

New York, NY

April 15, 2010

By Martha Sherman

Copyright © 2010 by Martha Sherman

Deborah Wanner delivers what she believes. Wanner, who has danced and collaborated for over 20 years with a wide range of choreographers in downtown New York dance venues, is also a dance professor, videographer, and certified Feldenkrais practitioner. She’s a generous choreographer whose focus on relationship and transformation are built right into her process. Along with four  expressive dancers, she opened the newly refurbished Chen Dance Center with the ambiguously titled “Close,” suggesting both intimacy and the opposite of openness.

Mad Woman

“There is so much mad in me”
Faye Driscoll
Dance Theater Workshop
New York, NY
March 31, 2010

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2010 by Leigh Witchel

The last noted on my pad after watching Faye Driscoll’s “There is so much mad in me”: Do I like this or not? I still can’t answer (several weeks in hindsight, I think that I did) but it’s impressive to provoke that confused a response.

YAGP Galas

Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow Gala
Vladimir Vasiliev: A Gala Tribute to a Dance Legend
Youth America Grand Prix
New York City Center
New York, NY
March 27-28, 2010

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2010 by Leigh Witchel

Youth America Grand Prix came back to City Center for its annual series of back-to-back galas that test the viewing stamina of the most seasoned balletomane. Each topping three hours, a gala isn’t the best way to see great dance, and there’s chaff mixed into the wheat, but there’s still always something that makes you glad to have gone.

Hot Prospects

1.2.3 Festival Opening Night
Taylor 2 | ABT II | Ailey II
The Joyce Theater
New York
April 13, 2010

by Kathleen O’Connell
copyright © 2010 by Kathleen O’Connell

On the road and out of town for many months of the year, ABT II, Ailey II, and Taylor 2 perform a signal service for the arts by bringing live dance to cities and schools across the U.S. They’re back home for while and in rotation at the Joyce, where each will present its own evening–length program during the 1.2.3 Festival (April 14—April 29). The Festival’s opening night presented a one–time–only opportunity to sample all three companies on the same program. There was a world premiere, a new production, and a chance to see an alternate take on a repertory staple. Ho–hum. Whatever. The real reason to go, of course, was to scout out the new talent and be the first on your block to see a star in the making.

Second to None

"Aureole", "3 Epitaphs", "Company B", "Esplanade"
Taylor2
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
April 16, 2010

By Mary Cargill
copyright © by Mary Cargill

Taylor2, a group of six young dancers established by Paul Taylor in 1993 to bring his works to broader audiences, is in residence at the Joyce, sharing a season with other Two's, Ailey and ABT.  Taylor2 has provided many dancers to the larger company, but this is is no sense a student venture; the dancing was spectacular, warm, gracious, and daring.  The repertoire is one to make a Taylor fan salivate, four great and very different works in one evening.  The ones choreographed for larger casts ("Company B" and "Esplanade") were reworked for the smaller group, but there was no sense of a Reader's Digest version.  In fact, the more intimate Joyce stage enhanced many of the more dramatic moments.

Inspired by the Music

"Haffner Symphony," "Underskin," "Russian Seasons,"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
April 13, 2010

by Rita Felciano
Copyright © Rita Felciano, 2010

Programming is a skill that experience perhaps can teach. But it also takes a good dose of intuition to know what will work in terms of variety within coherence. You want to please and challenge the eye, the ear and the heart of your artists as well as your audience while keeping in mind the available human and financial capital. In his years at SFB, Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson has proved himself an exceptionally good juggler. With the help of Martin West at the podium, Program VI showed how dancers will rise to the challenge of good music and good choreography.

Of Melancholy

"Wunderland", "Brahms on Edge", "Bolero"
The Washington Ballet
Harman Hall
Washington, DC
April 15, 2010

by George Jackson
copyright 2010 by George Jackson

The Washington Ballet's artistic director, Septime Webre, does not strike me as a gloomy sort of guy. Prior to each performance, he steps jauntily in front of the curtains. There's a smile on his face as he says something snappy as well as informative to welcome the audience. Is that, though, merely a facade? Does he, in the dark of the night when drafting choreographer contracts, demand that additions to the repertory contain big doses of melancholy? This program certainly made it seem so, especially Karole Armitage's brand new Brahms ballet.